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The tournament itself won't kick off until June 3, but fans in the United States, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and elsewhere in the Western Hemisphere can start dreaming tonight about the actual specific games at the Copa América Centenario, a special edition of South America's championship to commemorate the tournament's 100th anniversary. The 16 national teams will learn their fate when the tournament draw goes down tonight in New York City.
The USA will join Mexico, Brazil and Argentina as the seeded teams in Pot 1. Pot 2 comprises the top four remaining South American teams, with Pot 4 housing the bottom four CONMEBOL entrants. Pot 3 will hold the four qualifying CONCACAF teams. In handy table format:
Pot OneUnited States Brazil Mexico Argentina |
Pot Two |
Pot ThreePanama Haiti |
Pot FourPeru Bolivia Venezuela |
After the purely ceremonial draw of Pot 1 - each of the seeds has already been assigned their groups - the draw will totally logically proceed to Pot 4, then Pot 3 and finally Pot 2, one team from each pot ending up in each of the tournament's four groups.
USA Best Case Scenario: There's not going to be an easy draw in this tournament; there are just too many quality teams to miss all of them. That said, if Ecuador, Haiti and Venezuela ended up in the United States' group, I certainly wouldn't be complaining.
USA Worst Case Scenario: On the other hand, seeing Chile, Costa Rica and Paraguay in Group A with Juergen Klinsmann's side would cue ALL the hand-wringing.
Date/Time: Sunday, February 21, 7:30pm EST
Venue: Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City
TV: Fox Sports 2 (U.S. - English), Univision Deportes (U.S. - Spanish)
Online: Fox Sports Go (U.S. - English), Univision Deportes En Vivo, Fubo TV (U.S. - Spanish)
What Are You Drinking?: The draw is happening in Manhattan, and so I'll be mixing up a simple Old Overholt Manhattan. I'm nothing if not on-the-nose.
Treat this as your open thread as we celebrate/lament the US draw.